


Lion-Hearted

by lightace



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2017-12-30 21:58:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightace/pseuds/lightace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's more than one way to interpret a thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Evil Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Canon up to 3x03: Quite a Common Fairy

Regina couldn’t say this adventure – and she was using the word _extremely_ lightly – in Neverland was the worst she’d ever experienced, she also couldn’t say she was really enjoying it. Enjoying it would imply she was garnering some sort of pleasure from it, and traipsing around through a dangerous forest with a large group of people who wouldn’t be opposed to her head on a platter wasn’t exactly her idea of a good time.

The assimilation of Tinkerbell into their motley crew could either be a good thing or a bad thing, but she felt comfortable enough to speak at least somewhat freely with her, which was a definite plus.

So when the tree came crashing down in the midst of their group, the first person she searched out was Tink. She spotted her quickly enough, looking frazzled but safe, and over her shoulder, Regina also saw Emma grabbing blindly for a handhold and pulling herself to her feet.

A cursory glance revealed no one else on their side of the tree, and she had to admit, of all the idiots that made up their farce of a rescue team, Tinkerbell and Emma Swan were the two she could actually stand without stifling some serious murderous urges. Maybe Hook’s Lady Luck didn’t _completely_ hate her after all, just frowned deeply at her the majority of the time.

“You okay?” Emma called, and Regina picked herself up off the forest floor and began dusting herself off as an answer. She could all but see Emma roll her eyes at her.

Tink muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like curses Regina had only heard from Hook, and she turned away to hide a smirk as Emma sighed audibly. Obviously, she wasn’t exactly thrilled to be stuck with them.

And they’re definitely stuck, because Regina had felt a barrier surge up from the tree when it had fallen, and the three of them were trapped on the same side. The smell seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t quite recall where she had smelled it before.

She was still trying to place it when there was another loud crash, and Regina instinctively flung herself back from the sound and landed in a heap back on the dirt. Another tree had fallen, and this one had been stopped by the barrier, its limbs pressing against the invisible wall. The magic that had uprooted it smelled the same as the barrier.

“Disgusting,” she mumbled, hating the scent of it in her mouth.

“Great,” she heard Emma say dryly. “Now what?”

There was a strained creaking, and Tinkerbell emerged from the tangle of branches she’d fallen into. “We’re not getting across that tree, that’s for sure.”

Emma sighed and reached up to card a hand through her hair, but she looked more annoyed than angry. Regina realized why a moment before Emma spoke again, her voice low with aggravation. “Hook’s still got the damn map.”

Funny that her parents and her apparent not-boyfriend were stuck together on the opposite side of the tree, and Emma was more worried about the stupid map that may or may not even be useful anymore. Regina stood up again and brushed a few twigs out of her hair.

“If I could suggest a plan without it being dismissed without a second thought,” Regina said, with more than a hint of bitterness; Emma threw her an exasperated look but motioned for her to continue. “We follow the barrier until we find a weak spot that I can successfully break through. The barrier is strongest here, likely Pan’s way of trying to separate us.”

“How do you figure it’s Pan?” Emma asked.

“You smell that?” Emma lifted her head and sniffed, then grimaced. “Magic always has a scent and each person’s magic smell differently. This is the same smell that the enchanted map was giving off when it was first given to us.”

Emma frowned; she looked thoughtful and didn’t seem to immediately have dismissed Regina as her parents and Hook had been doing since they’d set off from Storybrooke. She opened her mouth and tasted the scent again, and she then seemed to reach a conclusion.

“All right,” she said, and she sounded tired again. “Lead the way, Regina.”

The tree stretched on for several meters, and once they reached the end of it, the three of them paused for a moment to attempt to see the other half of their group. They were nowhere to be seen however, and no matter how loudly Emma called, no one responded.

“I expect it’s soundproofed,” Regina remarked, and Emma glared at her.

“You couldn’t say that before I spent the last ten minutes yelling?”

Regina shrugged. “It was a theory, dear, and you’ve just proven it.” She fully expected a dirty look in response, and she wasn’t disappointed.

It’s tough going after that; the forest seemed to have turned against them, doing everything it could to dissuade them. The vines had grown and twisted together, and it took the combined efforts of Regina and Emma to clear a path. Tinkerbell trailed behind them in silence.

Between the three of them, they were making enough noise for a small cavalry, so when the large creature came barreling out of the trees with a fierce bellow, she’d be lying if she said she was taken by surprise. She had never been particularly adept at white magic – maybe she could have been if things had gone differently – so the best shield she could produce before they were trampled into the ground was a large wall of fire.

The flames burst up in front of them, and the beast roared as it crashed into the wall. As it backed away, Emma’s hands fumbled with the handle of her sword. She drew it just as the creature barreled through the flames and roared at them.

It swiped at them, and Regina yanked Emma back with her magic and just out of its reach. The thing’s massive paw slashed through the air where Emma had just been.

Regina downed a tree in an attempt to crush the creature, but it easily broke the tree in half and continued advancing toward them, teeth bared and a low growl rumbling from its throat. Each step it took, Regina mirrored backward, eyes wide and hands up as she tried to place the creature.

The thing was massive, almost three feet taller than she was and heavily muscled, and covered with a thick russet fur. Its arms hung low, and long, yellow claws scraped furrows into the ground as it crept toward Regina, and as it loomed closer, its putrid scent made her gag.

She recalled stories she’d heard as a child of a large ape-like creature that had once lived in the Enchanted Forest and fed on shepherds’ sheep and cows. The stories had turned to legends after a short time, and most people assumed that a shepherd had miss-seen what had killed his animals.

However, it wasn’t a myth, because it was staring down Regina now, and it looked angry.

There was a loud cry from behind her, and Emma flew by, sword raised. She swung it down hard, only for it to glance off the creature’s fur without leaving behind so much as a scratch. Emma swore loudly, and went sprawling once more as the thing’s claws caught her stomach.

“What is that thing?” Tink squeaked as Regina swallowed thickly and tried to come up with a plan.

“A mapinguari,” Regina answered grimly. “Supposedly a figment of some poor man’s imagination.”

“Seems pretty real to me,” Emma groaned from the ground. She started to get back to her feet, and Regina absentmindedly dropped a hand to her. With a bit of leverage from her sword, Emma grabbed her hand and allowed Regina to help her to her feet. “Ideas, Your Majesty?”

Regina flinched at the title and quickly dropped Emma’s hand. “Aim for its face,” she suggested. “It might not have armor there. I’ll grab it, and you attack.”

In her peripheral vision, she saw Emma nod and lift her sword. After a moment to collect her strength, Regina reached out with her magic and seized the mapinguari by its head and yanked it to the ground. A loud crash echoed as it smacked into the dirt, and she extended her grip to the creature’s thrashing limbs as Emma charged from beside her.

The mapinguari screeched as Emma’s blade sliced through the flesh of its face. It fought against Regina’s grip for a few moments before she released it, and it struggled to its feet and crashed away through the undergrowth.

When the sounds of its retreat had faded, Emma relaxed, and the tip of her sword dropped to the ground.

“Well done, Miss Swan,” Regina said. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Emma let out a sort of strained laughing noise, like she was half-asleep. When Regina looked at her, she blinked and realized that there was blood staining the front of Emma’s shirt where the beast’s claws had caught her, and as she stared in horror, Emma slumped against her sword where the blade had sunk down into the soil.

“Emma!” Tink cried, hurrying to her side. She hovered over her with an anxious expression, looking unsure of what to do to help. Without any fairy dust, she was unable to do anything.

“I’m okay,” Emma said stubbornly, despite the obvious fact that she was anything but. The red stain on the front of her shirt was spreading; she was still bleeding heavily.

The woman was such an idiot sometimes, and it was completely obvious where she’d gotten it from. When Regina told her as much, though, Emma just chuckled quietly and sunk farther to the ground.

“Can you heal her?” Tink asked Regina as Emma slumped against the nearest tree, her free arm wrapped around her stomach.

Regina shook her head. “My magic’s useless for healing.” Although. She was struck by an idea, and she frowned at Emma. “I have an idea.” She turned to Tinkerbell, who was watching her eagerly. “Go gather some firewood; we’re probably going to be stuck here for a while.”

With a nod, Tink turned and disappeared through the trees. When she had gone, Regina turned back to Emma, who looked to be drifting in and out of consciousness.

“Emma,” she said quietly as she knelt down beside her. When she didn’t respond, Regina reached out and shook her by the shoulder; Emma groaned but opened her eyes. “My magic can’t help, but yours can.”

Emma snorted weakly. “What magic? I can’t do anything.”

“You’ve never been taught,” Regina retorted, and Emma narrowed her eyes at her. “So I’m going to teach you.”

She grabbed Emma’s hand and set it over the wound. “Just focus. Recall what you felt when you opened the portal to the Enchanted Forest through Jefferson’s hat.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Emma muttered stubbornly, and Regina scowled.

“I couldn’t have opened it without you,” she said; Emma gave her an unreadable look. “You can do this. Concentrate.”

Emma stared at her for a few more seconds before she looked down at her stomach. She took a deep breath and then made a face like she was trying to lift a car. After a minute, she looked up at Regina with an exasperated expression.

“It’s not working,” she said petulantly, and Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how much she sounded like Henry when he didn’t get his way.

“Making faces at it won’t heal it, dear,” Regina responded dryly. “You need to concentrate, try to picture it healing.” She nodded at Emma’s stomach. “Try again.”

Emma sighed but did as told, and after a moment, Regina could feel the open wound on Emma’s stomach begin to stitch itself shut. It was slow going, however, and Emma stopped after a moment, beads of sweat rolling down her face.

“You make this look easy,” she grumbled, and Regina stifled a smile.

“You’re doing very well for someone who has never tapped into their magic before, dear. Keep going; you need to close this wound as soon as possible.”

With a deep frown, Emma focused again, but the wound was closing even slower now and Emma was sweating profusely with the exertion. She was struggling; her hands were shaking badly.

Regina’s instinctual reaction was to take her hand and give Emma her own magic, but Emma’s magic was light and hers was not. She wasn’t sure what would happen when they combined.

The hand that Emma had hovering over her wound turned slightly, and Regina’s eyes focused on the small flower tattoo on her wrist. She hadn’t noticed it before, or maybe she had but her recent reunion with Tinkerbell had only just jogged her memory.

Despite never having seen her father’s royal crest, the tattoo on Emma’s wrist was the same as Charming’s crest from the Enchanted Forest. The same crest that also had a – Regina sucked in a sharp breath at the realization and reached out to grab Emma’s wrist without thinking about it.

In a few seconds, Emma’s wound had completely closed from the effects of their combined magic, and it took Regina a few moments to realize that she had a tight grip on Emma’s wrist. She immediately released her like she’d been burned but couldn’t stop herself from continuing to stare at the tattoo.

“Thanks,” Emma said quietly, looking at Regina curiously.

“Um, yes, of course.” Regina stood up and absentmindedly brushed off her clothes, pointedly avoiding meeting Emma’s probing eyes.

Before Emma could say anything, luckily, Tinkerbell reappeared, an armful of wood in her arms. Emma made to stand up and held her, but she let out a pained cry and clutched at her stomach. They’d managed to close the wound, but it was apparently still painful.

“Stay there,” Regina told her, and Emma frowned but leaned back against the trunk of the tree as Tink gracelessly dropped her armful of wood a few feet from them.

It was easy enough for Regina to light the fire, and once she had, Tinkerball asked what had happened in her absence. In answer, Emma lifted the hem of her shirt, revealing what had until recently been a gaping wound but was now sewn shut like it had been done by a doctor. That must have been why it still caused pain; they hadn’t been able to make the wound disappear, just closed it.

“How do you feel, Emma?” Tink asked, and Emma simply shrugged with a grimace in response.

A short while later, Emma had fallen asleep hunched over with her head on her knees, and Regina was staring into the fire, lost in thought.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Regina blinked and looked over at Tink, who was frowning at her. For a moment, Regina considered not telling her, but then she realized how stupid that would be. Tinkerbell was the one who had told her about her supposed soul mate in the first place; if she was going to talk to anyone, it would be her.

“Is it possible that when you used that fairy dust, we found the wrong person?”

Tinkerbell’s frown deepened. “I’m not sure. I suppose it could have been; fairy dust doesn’t always work like it’s supposed to. Why do you ask?”

“I think that maybe we took the meaning too literally.”

“Explain.”

Regina sighed and reached up to rub at her forehead. She had had a headache since she had mixed her magic with Emma’s again, and it felt like her brain was scrambling. “We assumed that we were looking for a tattoo of an actual lion.”

“And you think otherwise,” Tinkerbell said, leaning forward eagerly with a wide grin. “Who, then?”

“Do you remember King George’s royal crest?”

Tink frowned and hesitantly nodded. “You’re not about to say you think your soul mate is Prince James, are you?” she asked dryly, and Regina felt nauseous at the very thought.

“Not a chance,” she replied with a grimace. “I set my sights higher than idiots.

“Glad to hear. So who _do_ you mean?”

Regina hesitated. Maybe she was reading too much into this, or it was simply wishful thinking, seeing what she wanted to see. Yes, magic had a nasty habit of not doing exactly what its caster desired, but that didn’t mean that it had this time.

“Regina,” Tink prompted gently, and Regina shook herself.

“Emma has a tattoo on the inside of her wrist,” she finally said reluctantly. “It’s of one of the flowers on Charming’s royal crest.”

It was like Tinkerbell had been hit in the head. She jolted up straight, and her eyes flew to where Emma was curled at the base of the tree. “The crest–”

Regina nodded. “Has a lion in the center, yes.”

“Holy shit. So are you going to tell her?”

“Are you insane?” Regina snapped, and then recalled what had happened the last time she’d been in this situation and sighed. “Even if I wanted to, now isn’t exactly the best time. And what would I say: ‘Hey Emma, it turns out your tattoo means that you’re my soul mate! Sorry to ruin your life _again_!’”

She didn’t realize how loud she’d gotten until Emma grunted in her sleep. Regina quickly fell silent, watching anxiously, but Emma didn’t seem to have woken.

“I’ve already ruined her life enough,” Regina added quietly, heading off whatever Tink so obviously wanted to say. “I’m not going to do it again.”

Tinkerbell gave an exasperated sigh but didn’t argue, just fixed her with a sympathetic look.

/

When Emma woke a while later, they set off again; Emma winced with every step but managed to keep a steady pace. Against her better instincts, Regina stayed close by in case she stumbled; Emma had shot her a disgruntled look the first time she’d reached out to catch her when she’d tripped over a tree root but hadn’t complained otherwise.

As Tinkerbell was leading the way and struggling through a thick bunch of vines, Emma hesitantly set a hand on Regina’s bicep. “Hey,” she said quietly, and Regina glanced over at her with a frown. “Um.” Emma reached up and rubbed at the back of her neck, looking nervous. “Do you think that maybe you could teach me to use my magic while we’re here? I think it would be useful if you weren’t the only one able to use it.”

“You would trust me to teach you?” Regina asked incredulously.

Emma shrugged, and she looked rather uncomfortable now. “Well, I don’t really have many options to choose from, but yeah, I do. My parents,” she grimaced at the word, “might not, though.”

“It’s a good thing I haven’t cared about their opinions in years, then,” Regina replied darkly, and Emma gave a small smirk that Regina found herself returning.

For a moment, the two of them smiled at each other. Then, Emma opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Tink’s voice yelled, “Are you two coming or not?”

She didn’t sound particularly angry, but nevertheless, the two of them hurried off after her. As they were pushing through the undergrowth, Emma spoke again, her voice so quiet Regina almost missed it.

“You didn’t ruin my life, Regina.”

Regina whirled to face her, eyes wide, but Emma was staring at the ground, and her cheeks looked pink. As Regina opened her mouth, unsure of what to say but feeling the need to say _something_ , Emma hunched her shoulders and stepped past her.


	2. The Savior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma tries to focus on why they came to Neverland in the first place instead of Regina's damn soul mate theory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because people asked for it, and I actually felt up to writing it. I don't think it's as good as the first chapter, but I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless.

Emma had never made it a habit to eavesdrop on something that didn’t concern her – it was a skill she’d had no choice but to learn when she was chasing people across the country – but Regina whispering with Tinkerbell while she was asleep was something she found herself curious about. She had no idea what had happened between the two of them back in the Enchanted Forest, and she’d thought that maybe she’d learn something by pretending to still be asleep.

She’d definitely learned something, though, just not exactly what she’d expected or really wanted to. She hadn’t heard all of it, but she’d heard enough to realize what they were talking about. It had definitely been a surprise, though.

Out of all the things she expected Regina to think about her, them being soul mates wasn’t anywhere on that list. Hell, they’d only recently learned to get along just enough to not push each other into the nearest patch of Dreamshade.

There had been something about a lion tattoo apparently and mention of David’s royal crest from the Enchanted Forest, but she’d mostly been lost trying to keep up. From what she’d gathered, her flower tattoo that she didn’t actually recall getting – probably alcohol, if she had to hazard a guess – could possibly make her Regina Mills’ soul mate.

The idea of which was laughable, but Emma hadn’t been able to bring herself to laugh. It was weird, thinking about someone you’d been throwing rocks at for over a year in a context other than something ranging from simple aggravation to anger so fierce Emma had had to take a step back and calm herself down. In fact, she’d almost blown her cover when she’d bit back on a laugh at how ridiculous Regina had sounded, but luckily, she hadn’t been subjected to the wrath of Regina Mills. Again.

Actually, she wasn’t sure what had motivated her to reveal herself to Regina afterward; maybe that mapin-whatever thing’s claws had been laced with something that had messed with her head.

Regina hadn’t retaliated yet, though, but Emma was still on guard, waiting for the moment she would. Maybe she’d wake up tomorrow and find herself hanging from a tree or something more creative; maybe she’d be woken up by being dropped in the middle of the ocean. Anything was possible with a pissed off Regina.

Their magic worked together much better than they did, and maybe that was what she’d been missing. Even when the two of them had been at odds, their magic had cooperated with each other, despite how volatile Emma’s could be and the fact she’d almost blown up the loft while trying to use it after the first time tapping into it.

Her foot caught on a tree root, and she stumbled forward a few paces before she caught herself. She was thinking about this too much; she needed to concentrate on finding the others and then Henry. There would be time to think about this soul mate shit later.

/

They found a weak spot in the barrier after a few hours of searching, and Emma grudgingly admired how thorough Pan had been with it. Yeah, they’d made progress very slowly, but it had still taken them a while to find a way through.

As they emerged on the other side of the barrier, Emma felt like Regina’s magic was wrapping around her. It was thick, likely because she was standing right in the middle of it, but the smell of it wasn’t cloying like she expected such a high concentration of Regina’s magic would.

Pan’s had been strong enough to choke her, but while Regina’s was strong as well, it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, Emma felt she could easily come to enjoy it.

They headed back in the direction they’d come once on the other side of the barrier, and as they were walking, Emma couldn’t resist asking, “Hey, Regina, why didn’t the smell of your magic choke me like Pan’s did?”

Tinkerbell snorted. “Really? I thought it smelled horrible.”

“It depends on the person,” Regina replied without even acknowledging that Tink had spoken. “And your view of the caster. I expect your parents would find it appalling – if they could smell it, that is.”

“They can’t?” Emma asked curiously. She’d watched more than a few Disney movies in her childhood, but she’d never heard anything like this of magic. Of course, she had been watching the second-hand, watered-down versions, so that was really to be expected.

Regina shook her head. “Usually only those who have touched magic themselves can smell it. Your parents haven’t, despite what they might think. They’ve only touched it indirectly.”

“So what does it mean if I didn’t think it was horrible?”

“It means you don’t hate my guts,” Regina replied nonchalantly, and Emma rolled her eyes as she ducked under a low-hanging branch. Trust the Evil Queen to make everything sound more dramatic than it really was.

Not five minutes later, Emma heard the sounds of what sounded like at least twenty people thundering through the forest, and she was entirely unsurprised when it turned out to be Mary Margaret, David, and Hook.

After the initial surprise at meeting up with each other again, Emma found herself crushed between Mary Margaret and David. She let out an unimpressive squeak and began struggling against them, but they held tight.

After a minute, she managed to extract herself, but it wasn’t without a fight. Her stomach was burning with pain, and when she grabbed in instinctively, they were on her again, this time crowding her and loudly asking what was wrong.

“Stop it!” she yelled, and they quickly shut up, staring at her with wide puppy eyes.

“What happened, Emma?” Mary Margaret – because she _still_ couldn’t stand to call her Snow – asked, looking at Emma like she was on her deathbed or something equally stupid.

In lieu of an answer that would more than likely just prompt more questions, Emma lifted the hem of her shirt to show the partially healed wound where the mapinguari had tried to put a hole in her stomach. Instantly, she was accosted again, but she effectively stopped them by raising her hands.

“I’m fine. Me and Regina healed it.”

As one, Mary Margaret and David turned to Regina, who up to this point had been pointedly not looking in their direction.

“Oh, what,” she snapped when she realized the two of them were glaring at her. “You think I brainwashed her? I lent her my magic, just like she did me with Jefferson’s hat and when we stopped the trigger.”

Her eyes flashed dangerously, and Emma stepped between them before anyone could throw the first punch. Again.

“Stop it, all of you,” she growled. “You’re acting like children. Is it too much to ask for to just _get along_ , at least until we find Henry and get off this damn island?” She glanced from Mary Margaret and David to Regina, who she stared down until she huffed and turned and stalked away. When the other two didn’t look like they were going to agree, she added darkly, “I was talking to you too.”

They seemed to finally realize she was being serious and backed down as well, though they both looked as aggravated as Regina.

Honestly, it was like babysitting a bunch of kids. Actually, no, they’d be more forgiving, never mind. They were acting like a bunch of petty teenagers, and unfortunately, her parents more than Regina. All Regina had done – this time, at least – was defend herself.

“I trust Regina,” she told Mary Margaret and David in a tone that booked no argument. “She saved my life; it’s the least I can do.”

The two of them both desperately looked like they wanted to say something, but she turned and walked away before they could even open their mouths. She didn’t want to hear any of their excuses today; she’d already heard too many of them since the curse broke.

“Didn’t think I’d see the day you’d be siding with the Queen,” Hook said as she passed. She ignored him, but he stood up from the tree he’d been leaning against and fell into step beside her. “Thought you’d listen to Mommy and Daddy.”

She punched him hard in the shoulder and felt a surge of satisfaction when he grimaced. “You call them that again and I’ll make a necklace out of your teeth.”

“Prickly, aren’t we?” He didn’t give her a chance to respond and lengthened his strides to lead the way; she scowled at his back.

Emma pulled the map out of her back pocket and flipped it open, scowling when she realized that the location of Pan’s camp had changed again. “Head back toward the left, Hook,” she called, and he waved a hand in response and changed course.

The first time the map had changed, they’d all been confused. According to Hook though, the island changed at Pan’s whim, so this was likely just Pan screwing with them. But as they had no other way to locate him and Henry that everyone agreed on, they were forced to follow the map. Odds were they were just walking in circles, but no one had yet to come up with a better idea – one that was approved by all parties, at least.

Without any fairy dust, Tinkerbell was barely any more useful than Hook, barely because at least everything she said wasn’t laced with a crude innuendo that made Emma want to dig a big hole and leave her at the bottom of it. Regina had been the only one to offer an alternate plan, but she’d been shot down by Hook, Mary Margaret, and David so much she’d stopped mentioning it.

They stopped after a while because Emma’s stomach was hurting her so badly she was having trouble keeping up with the others. She had no sooner sat down, though, than Regina took a seat beside her.

“Want some help?” she offered quietly, and to Emma’s surprise, she held out her hand without so much as a sarcastic remark.

For a moment, Emma wondered what she meant, but a twinge of pain from her half-healed wound made her feel like an idiot. “Thanks,” she mumbled and took Regina’s hand in her own.

Regina was silent as Emma used their combined magic to completely heal herself. It was far easier this time, and within a minute, Emma lifted the hem of her shirt again to find that all that was left of the once gaping wound in her stomach was a thin line of a scar.

She didn’t realize she was still holding Regina’s hand until she felt Regina subtly try to withdraw it. Hurriedly, she pulled her own hand back, trying to ignore the prickling heat climbing up the back of her neck. She muttered an apology, and Regina gave a stiff nod and looked the other way.

An awkward silence settled over them, and after a minute, Emma was unable to take it. She crossed her legs and leaned forward with a sigh, and she could almost feel Regina’s curiosity. “So, about this ‘our magic’ plan you mentioned?”

She turned her head to see Regina grinning with a malice she hadn’t seen in a while. In a way, it was comforting to see, if a bit unnerving.

Well, at least it wasn’t directed toward her this time.

/

Unfortunately, Regina’s plan required Emma to have a somewhat adequate mastery of her magic before they could proceed, so a short while later, Emma was back to concentrating so hard it felt like her head was going to explode.

“You look ridiculous.”

“Not helping,” she snapped back, and she could practically hear Regina roll her eyes. “If you’re just going to complain, you could at least _try_ and help me while you do it.”

She heard Regina sigh as if teaching her magic was the most irritating task she’d ever had to accomplish. “Fine,” she said, stepping around Emma, who lifted her eyes to watch her. “Magic is strengthened by emotion, whether it’s anger or something else. We’re going to save Henry, right? Focus on happiness or love, whatever’s easier.”

Emma nodded and focused back on her hand, trying to thrum as much happiness as she could manage. Briefly, she felt a small flame flicker in her palm before it vanished, leaving her more frustrated than before.

“Do you always make such strange faces when you concentrate?” Regina asked curiously from her right shoulder, and Emma rounded on her angrily.

“You know what, keep your damn opinions to yourself from now on! If you’re not going to help, go bother someone else!”

There was a low creak as Emma glared at Regina, but she only acknowledged it when it came again, louder, and Regina lifted her eyes to look at something behind her.

The creaking sound, it turned out, had been a tree wavering, a large chunk carved out of the bottom of the trunk from a source Emma expected she knew, and as it started to fall their way, Emma spun on complete instinct and grabbed Regina. She threw them to the ground and braced herself as a loud crack sounded.

She felt something connect with the back of her head, and she winced and curled protectively around Regina, trying to keep her from being smashed by the tree. Once everything had quieted, she pushed herself up and found herself surrounded by thick foliage.

To her surprise, Regina didn’t immediately shove her off, but Emma shifted off of her and began bending the limbs of the tree back so they could get out. She held a few of them back, and Regina quickly took the hint and crawled out of the tree.

Once Emma had followed her, they sat next to each other and stared at the fallen tree; Emma reached up and gingerly prodded the spot on the back of her head where the tree had hit her. She glanced over at Regina to make sure she was okay, and aside from looking a bit ruffled, she seemed to be.

“Well,” Regina said, sounding slightly out of breath. “I suppose anger also works, although obviously not exactly as desired.” Emma breathed a laugh, and Regina gave her an unreadable look. “Thank you.”

A sincere Regina never failed to make her uncomfortable, and Emma shrugged lamely in response. It had been an instinctual reaction; she hadn’t even realized what she was doing before she had already grabbed Regina.

Of course, Mary Margaret and David had to burst into the clearing at that moment, shattering whatever awkwardness had yet again settled between them. Emma was somewhat relieved to see them but also aggravated – and maybe at Hook and Tinkerbell as well for apparently not being concerned over their well-being.

“We’re fine,” she said exasperatedly before any of them could ask, but that didn’t stop Mary Margaret from hovering like an over-protective parent. Emma looked to Regina for help, but she was too busy ignoring them and picking the debris off her clothes.

David, predictably, had turned angrily on Regina, who just sneered at him so fiercely that he backed down without a word. “It was an accident,” she answered his unspoken question. “Emma got a little angry and unintentionally took out the tree.”

Predictably, Mary Margaret and David turned to Emma for confirmation, who nodded weakly and waved them away. “I obviously still need to work on this, so go back to whatever you were doing so I can practice.”

They both looked reluctant to leave, but when she frowned and pointed back the way they’d come, they trailed away like a pair of puppies.

“You have them remarkably well-trained,” Regina remarked once they were gone, and Emma turned a glare on her as well to find her smirking evilly.

“Oh, shut up.”

/

Emma was careful about her temper after the whole tree incident, and with a cooperative – finally – Regina, she found it was easier to learn to control her magic. More than a few times she almost took out another tree, but they luckily avoided destroying the homes of any more wildlife.

“I’m hungry,” Emma complained almost two hours after they’d started. She looked up from the flame flickering in her palm to look at Regina, who immediately wiped her expression blank and replaced it with her usual scowl.

“Fine. You’ve made more progress than I ever thought you would in such a short amount of time considering your previous track record.”

Emma quickly leaped to her feet, her muscles protesting at the sudden movement after sitting still so long, and held out a hand to Regina, who looked at it like it might attack her. “Come on, Your Majesty,” Emma teased with a grin, but it faded when she saw Regina flinch.

“Don’t call me that,” she said quietly and it sounded like more of a plea than an order. Emma lowered her eyes to her feet and nodded, and after a moment, she felt Regina take her hand.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled as she helped Regina to her feet.

Regina shrugged weakly and didn’t look at her. “It’s okay. Just, don’t do it again.” The title obviously made her uncomfortable, so Emma didn’t hesitate to nod her agreement, and Regina briefly squeezed her hand in response before letting go.

“So when do we go?” Emma asked, changing the subject before she became too distracted by the fading tingling feeling in her hand. She shoved the hand in her pocket to try and stifle the feeling.

“We should rest for a few hours,” Regina replied, “and then we can go and save our son.”

Emma smiled; the word ‘our’ sounded a lot better than screaming at each other over ownership of Henry. She liked it better this way.

/

When they arrived back at where they’d set up camp earlier, they found a shirtless David with the other three crowded around him like they were magnetically attracted to him. Emma stopped and opened her mouth to say something before deciding against it and heading for where a leftover grilled animal was sitting next to the fire.

Regina, however, had no such reservations. “Looks like idiots actually _are_ attracted to each other,” she remarked, and all four of them looked at her with expressions like she’d kicked a kitten or something. She scowled. “What now?”

“Well,” Hook drawled, “it turns out the ‘idiot’ got himself shot with some Dreamshade back when we were fighting the Lost Boys and decided that now was the best time to tell everyone.”

“I thought Emma might be able to help since she can use her magic now,” David argued, sounding more like a petulant child than a prince.

Emma found herself put on the spot as five sets of eyes turned to her, ranging from pleading to curious to whatever Regina’s blank expression meant. She lifted a hand and tried to say something, but her voice didn’t want to work. When no one took their eyes off her, she managed, “I thought it was incurable.”

“It’s supposed to be,” Hook said. He reached up to scratch at his cheek, “But the product of true love has never tried to stop it.” He raised his eyebrows at her and jerked his head toward what Emma could now see was a black, gaping wound down the side of David’s chest.

She reached up and rubbed at her face before pushing her hair back. “Okay, fine.” What was she supposed to do, leave her father to die of a poison slowly seeping through his veins? “I’ll try.”

The others stepped aside as she approached David, but she hesitated, unsure of what she was supposed to do. She barely had a grasp on basic magic; how was she supposed to deal with a supposedly incurable poison?

“Relax,” Regina’s voice said quietly from her shoulder, and she felt Regina’s fingers wrap around her forearm.

David looked between the two of them nervously, obviously uncomfortable with Regina so close to his daughter and helping to feed her magic. But he didn’t say anything, just swallowed thickly and steeled himself.

Emma didn’t realize she was frozen until Regina tightened her grip on her arm, and she started with a jolt. She could feel Regina’s magic curling around her, surprisingly pliant and cooperative. After spending so much time with her own magic, she could feel the nuances in Regina’s a lot easier.

Wisps of it seemed to cling to her as it drifted around her, but it wasn’t unpleasant by any means. In fact, it actually felt quite nice.


	3. The Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped with the Lost Boys, Henry wishes desperately for a rescue.

He hadn't slept well since he'd left – was taken from, really – Storybrooke; he woke at the slightest noise, and even if he did manage to sleep for longer than fifteen minutes, he had nightmares. He'd heard the Lost Boys talk about what they got up to on a daily basis, and the images their stories inspired were enough to make him sick to his stomach.

He'd dreamed of his mothers and the others coming to rescue him only for Pan and the Lost Boys to take care of them in a similar way to how they killed and displayed the local wildlife. When he'd jolted awake, he'd been so horrified at what his sleeping mind had come up with that he'd almost vomited more than a few times.

Without even seeing his own reflection, he knew he must look terrible. Like sleep, food hadn't been easy to come by; he expected he'd lost a lot of weight since he'd been here, and with no sleep, he likely had circles under his eyes dark enough to make him look like a raccoon.

He still hoped someone was coming to rescue him though, even despite his nightmares. Consciously, he knew they were stronger than Pan, but his unconscious mind was apparently more prone to doubt. His mother wasn't going to lose to a group of teenage boys, and neither would Emma or any of the others.

An apple smacked into his chest and dropped into his lap, and he blinked a few times before he looked up to see one of the Lost Boys walking away from him. The apple was small and looked overripe, but Henry just sighed and began eating. It was likely all he would get for a while. He'd stopped arguing against being given apples a while ago when his hunger had gotten the better of him.

One thing he'd learned quickly living with the Lost Boys was that they loved to fight. They didn't even have to have a reason; they just walked up to someone and punched them and then next thing anyone knew, they were rolling on the ground beating each other until they were bloody.

Henry was dreading when one of the boys finally worked up the nerve to attack him. He knew none of them liked him; Pan didn't pay as much attention to them since Henry had arrived, he'd heard them whispering to each other not long after he'd arrived.

He suspected his time was approaching, too, if the growing number of boys lurking near his sleeping spot was any indication. They'd been steadily growing in number for the past few days, putting him more and more on edge as time passed.

As he was finishing off the last of his apple, he heard footsteps, and he braced himself. He couldn't say he was surprised when hands closed in the collar of his jacket and hauled him up until the tips of his feet were just barely touching the ground, and he grimaced at the rank breath of the Lost Boy holding him.

The boy didn't say a word, just pulled back and smashed a fist into his nose. Henry flinched and felt his nose break and blood begin running down his face. The Lost Boy grinned triumphantly as Henry spluttered and spat out his own blood that had dripped into his mouth.

Some of the other boys guffawed, and the sound of it ignited a rage in Henry he hadn't realized he had. He kicked out at the boy and caught him in the knee, and he found himself dropped to the ground. The guffaws of the other boys turned to catcalls, which only served to further Henry's anger.

He lurched at his attacker and struck out at the Boy's face. There was a loud crack, and the Lost Boy stumbled back, clutching at his own broken nose. The boy cried out and clutched at his face, and Henry made to attack him again only to be stopped in his tracks by an invisible force.

When he heard clapping, there was no doubt who had grabbed him. Pan stepped in his line of vision, smirking evilly. "Well done," he crowed, his grin stretched across his entire face. "I didn't know you had in you, Henry."

Henry glared at him as best he could, being completely frozen and all. He didn't think it was very successful, but Pan seemed to understand what he was trying to convey.

He sighed. "A bit disappointing, but I can't say I'm surprised." He waved a hand lazily, and Henry stumbled forward and collapsed to the ground. Blood had pooled in his mouth while he'd been stuck, and he spat a few times and shuddered at the coppery taste.

Pan clicked his tongue, and Henry wished he could spit on his shoes. That would fall under the category of 'stupid and life-endangering' though, so he stifled the urge and wiped gingerly at his face with his sleeve instead.

He tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps again, and Pan pulled him to his feet by the back of his jacket and leered at him. "I'd fix that," he jerked his head at Henry's nose that was still dribbling blood, "but then you wouldn't have a battle scar, and that would just be a shame, wouldn't it?"

The grin he gave made Henry shudder, and then he found himself back on the ground again. This time, he didn't try to get up, just stayed and hoped they would leave him alone. He missed his moms – both of them – and he just wanted to go home and have things go back to normal.

If his mom rescued him from this, he swore he'd stop judging her so harshly. He'd never wanted to be safe in his room on Mifflin Street so much in his life.

As if his prayers had been heard, a familiar smell registered in his mind, and instead of causing dread and anger, it brought relief. He curled in on himself and relaxed as his mother's magic curled protectively around him. As it did, though, he realized it was mingling with a different person's magic, and a sniff instantly told him he had never smelled it before and he had no idea who it could belong to. Perhaps they had found an ally on the island?

Pan screamed something, and suddenly the clearing was consumed with noise. But Henry kept his head down, not wanting to watch. He'd seen enough violence in the past several days than he'd ever wanted to see; sword fights didn't really hold the appeal they once had.

"Hey, kid," a voice said, and Henry could have cried from relief when he cracked open his eyes to see Emma crouched down beside him and reaching out for him. He quickly threw himself at her and buried his face in her chest, and she hugged him tightly. "It's okay, we're gonna get you out of here," she told him, and he couldn't find his voice to reply.

"Henry!"

The smell of the magic surrounding him intensified, and he found himself crushed between Emma and his mom. One of his mom's arms was around him, and as close as he was, he could smell her magic mixing with the unidentified stuff.

As his moms hugged him, he realized the second source of magic; he could feel it pouring off Emma in waves. Surprised, he struggled to move so he could see her face. "You're using magic?" he asked breathlessly, and Emma looked taken aback for a moment before nodding hesitantly.

"That damn turnover," he heard his mom mutter, and then he found himself pulled to his feet yet again, though it was much gentler this time.

He turned to look at his mom, and he was a bit embarrassed to find his eyes welling with tears at the sight of her. He'd not thought it possible to miss her so much since learning the truth about her.

"We need to go," Emma said tersely, and Henry blinked and tore his eyes away from his mom. Emma was standing with her back to them, shoulders tensed with her sword raised, facing down at least ten Lost Boys. "Regina."

"I heard you," his mom snapped at Emma's back, and he grabbed her outstretched hand without even thinking about it. This was real. He was going to leave, to go home.

As he finally looked at the battle raging around them, Henry could see Charming, Hook, and a woman he didn't recognize fighting in close quarters with some of the Lost Boys, and Snow was firing arrow after arrow into the fray from the edge of the clearing. As he watched, transfixed in fascinated horror, he saw Hook brutally swing a Lost Boy into a nearby tree and knock him out cold.

"–ry. Henry!"

He started when he felt a hand on his cheek, and the next thing he knew, Emma had taken him from his mother's hands and swung him up onto her back. He peeked his head over her shoulder just as they entered the tree line, and even though he couldn't see her, he could hear Regina following close behind them.

They crashed through the undergrowth at a frantic pace, and Henry had to duck his head more than a few times so he didn't get whacked in the face by a tree branch. As he raised his head again, he became aware that they were passing the trees at a rate far faster than human, and when the smell of Emma's magic registered to him again, he realized what was happening.

Within a few minutes, they burst from the trees onto the shore, and off in the distance, Henry could see Hook's ship floating in the ocean. There was a dingy pulled up onto the sand, but they stopped several meters away from it and turned back toward the forest.

"Regina, you do it," Emma said, sounding completely out of breath. "I don't trust my magic to not drop us off at the bottom of the ocean."

"As soon as the rest of the idiots get here," Regina replied, and Henry was surprised at how civil they were being. He wasn't used to seeing them like this; usually, they were at each other's throats. Maybe it was because they were united in a cause again, like they'd been when they'd saved Storybrooke.

Less than a minute later, Charming appeared out of the trees, closely followed by the others. They were all glowing faintly, and Henry belatedly realized that they had been sped up by magic as well, his mother's by the smell of it. That was also odd; his mother hated them.

They had almost reached him and his mothers when Pan appeared suddenly between them, lacking his signature smirk and instead fixing the three of them with a glare fierce enough to melt diamond. Something in Henry's stomach lurched, and he briefly thought he would vomit.

"Give. Him. Back," Pan growled, taking a threatening step forward. Behind him, Charming and the others had stopped in their tracks, looking unsure of what to do. "He is  _mine_."

Henry glanced between his mothers anxiously, but he shouldn't have been worried. Regina stepped forward without hesitation until she was toe-to-toe with Pan, and Henry's stomach clenched with worry.

"He is  _my_  son," Regina said, with an icy fierceness that chilled Henry to the bone. He'd only heard the tone a few times in his life, but it never failed to terrify him.  _This_  was the Evil Queen that he'd read about in his book, the one that had inspired terror in so many. "You have no claim to him."

"Oh, I think I do," Pan spat back, tilting his chin up at her.

Regina's magic crackled in the air around him, and just as Henry ducked his head into Emma's shoulder and braced himself for something horrific, he felt another whoosh of magic, this time smelling of Mr. Gold.

Pan gasped, and Henry's head lifted without his permission to see Pan staring down at his chest in shock. A long, thin blade was protruding out of it, and past his shoulder stood Gold, his expression more empty than Henry thought imaginable. It was terrifying to look at, and he found he couldn't for long.

"That's something worse than Dreamshade, boy," Gold said coldly and yanked his blade out like it was nothing. Pan began bleeding profusely without the dagger to staunch the flow, and the black blood oozed through his fingers as he clutched at his wound. "Don't underestimate the Dark One."

A low, gurgling sound came from Pan's throat, and he died with his eyes staring into Henry's.

Henry didn't realize he was shaking until he found himself cradled against Emma's chest again. "Regina," he heard her say softly, "get us out of here."

/

Tears were dripping down his nose as he sat on the deck of the Jolly Roger. He didn't understand why he was so upset; he'd never held anything but hatred toward Pan, but he couldn't stop himself from crying like a child. His mother was holding him tight to her as Emma stood by awkwardly, looking extremely out of her element.

"It's okay, sweetheart," his mother whispered to him as he clung to her. "He's gone; he can't hurt you anymore."

It wasn't even that, he realized. He was crying partly from relief from finally being rescued and from the shock of how violent everything had been. Living with the Lost Boys had been horrible – he had never considered becoming a vegetarian until he'd come to Neverland – but he hadn't wanted their escape to be so bloody. Returning to the Enchanted Forest and being a prince was not nearly as appealing as it had been not even a month ago.

"I love you, Mom," he whimpered, and he heard his mother's breath catch. It had been months since he'd told her that, but being stuck with a bunch of savages had helped him reevaluate his priorities. Regina had raised him since he was an infant, and he'd just brushed her off like she'd been nothing when he'd found his birth mother.

"I love you too, Henry," his mom said quietly, squeezing her tight against him as if she would never let him go. At this point, he didn't think he would argue very much.

There was a loud splash and a high-pitched squeak at that moment, effectively ruining the moment, and both Henry and Regina turned to see Emma standing next to the ship's railing, soaking wet and dripping saltwater onto the deck.

They were both silent for a minute until Henry started giggling, which caused Regina to start chuckling quietly, and Emma looked at them with an expression like she wanted to be mad at them for laughing but couldn't bring herself to be.

"Help?" she finally said, plucking at her wet shirt. "I'd do it myself, but I'd probably end up setting my clothes on fire, and we really don't need that to happen."

Henry glanced up at his mother to see her raise her eyebrow, and she seemed to stifle a smirk as well. She waved a hand and Emma was dry again, and Henry was surprised that his mother hadn't changed her appearance in some way. He thought it was a missed opportunity; Emma with brightly colored Mohawk would have been hilarious.

Emma mumbled her thanks and sat down beside them, and she reached over and ruffled Henry's hair and grinned at him when he smiled at her.

/

He was happy to find out that his mothers had chosen to room together so he didn't have to choose one. As they had had a bit to travel before they could return to Storybrooke, Henry had decided to finally get some decent sleep.

Charming had woken him up some time later and brought him dinner, and he'd seemed to realize that Henry didn't really want to talk and they had eaten in mostly silence, which Henry had sincerely appreciated.

After that, David had tucked him back into bed with a smile, and when Henry had woke up again, Emma was snoring quietly on the bed across from him, one arm flopped over the side onto the floor. Regina wasn't in the room when Henry sat up and looked around, and after a minute, he slid out of bed and scampered over to Emma's and crawled under the covers with her.

Emma stirred slightly at the invader in her bed, but she just curled an arm around Henry and fell still again.

He woke alone again later, finally feeling rested, and when he stepped outside the cabin, everything was still, the others apparently asleep. Quietly so as not to wake anyone, he crept up to the deck, but just as he was about to climb onto the deck, he heard voices and peeked his head up instead.

It was a bit difficult to make out in the perpetual gloom of Neverland, but he could make out both of his mothers up at the wheel, talking in low voices as Emma kept the wheel steady. They looked more at ease with each other than he'd ever seen them; his mom was even smiling.

As he watched, Emma seemed to try and make Regina laugh if her odd facial expressions were any indication, and to his surprise, his mom looked like she was indulging her. It made him smile, so he just stayed there for a while and watched them talk.

Something had obviously changed between them while they'd been on the island, and he wondered what it had been. Maybe he'd ask them one day, when this was all just a bad memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the Disney movie, the Lost Boys wore animal costumes, which is more than a little morbid if you think about it.


	4. A Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group returns to Storybrooke and attempts to return everything back to normal.

Tinkerbell was less than impressed to discover that none of them had come to Neverland with a plan to get back. In their defense, however, they had all been in a hurry to rescue Henry before something terrible happened to him.

She'd actually threatened a mutiny before Rumple had produced a magic compass he'd found in Pan's pocket before Regina had poofed them on board the Jolly Roger. It had been amusing to watch them squabble, Regina thought, mostly because she wasn't actually involved. She'd kept herself out of the conversation, and though she expected she'd receive a few comments from Tink later, she enjoyed watching her chew out the rest of the inhabitants of the ship.

They arrived back in Storybrooke unscathed, luckily, and a crowd was waiting to meet them by the time they reached the dock. Henry, who had been uncharacteristically subdued since they'd rescued him, brightened at the sight of everyone, especially Ruby who was waiting like a lapdog at the front of the crowd.

She was one of them few people that had happily welcomed Regina back – or even acknowledged her at all, most of them ignored her existence – and Regina had actually gave her a genuine smile in thanks. Apparently, she'd taken it upon herself to fill Emma's shoes as acting sheriff in their absence, and she told Regina that Belle had taken over the mayor's job. Regina made a mental note to thank Miss French when she found a moment to.

Regina could only take so long being actively ignored by the majority of the town, so a few minutes after Ruby moved to talk to Snow and Charming, Regina turned and slipped away without anyone noticing.

She hadn't been as subtle as she thought, though, because she only made it around the corner before she heard footsteps and turned back to see Henry hurrying after her.

"Hey!" he called, and she stopped walking to wait on him. She was surprised he'd come after her, considering the rest of his family was still at the docks. "Are you going home?" he asked, and the eagerness on his face was enough to kill whatever bitterness she was feeling.

"Yes, I am," she said, and without another word, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her hand again.

Her shock must have showed on her face because Henry grinned widely up at her before walking and tugging at her hand. "C'mon!" he chirped. He pulled her down the street, and she couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

She'd seen him start to become antsy under all the attention at the docks, and she'd worried that Neverland might have had more long-term effects on them than they had initially suspected but he seemed perfectly ordinary now, if a lot more friendlier to her than he'd been in over a year – the reminder of how long it had been felt like someone was squeezing her heart, a feeling she unfortunately knew all too well.

She squeezed his hand as they turned the corner onto Main Street, and he stepped closer so that he was almost walking on her toes. She didn't mind though; it had been way too long since he'd been like this with her.

/

There was a knock on the front door over an hour later, and Regina paused in her scouring of her kitchen for any food that  _wasn't_  expired to answer it. She really shouldn't have been surprised with who she found on the other side, but her low expectations meant she was.

"Miss Swan."

Emma scowled at her. "If you call me that again, I'm going to set your hair on fire." There was a pause, then Emma added, "Because I can do that now."

Regina couldn't help the small smile that broke through, and she stepped back without another word to let Emma pass. She did so with an impossibly large grin, and Henry flung himself at her when he saw her, almost sending the containers in her hands flying.

"Hey, kid," she said, ruffling his hair affectionately.

As the two of them disappeared into the kitchen, Regina turned to shut the door only to stop when she saw Tinkerbell standing on her doorstep looking sheepish. Regina suspected she'd be asked not far in the future if she had a spare bedroom that could be used, and she also suspected she'd be saying yes.

She shut the door behind Tinkerbell and followed them into the kitchen where Henry was peeking inside all of the containers to see what was inside. As she passed him, she nudged him to go set them on the table, and he scurried off with the plates of food stacked in his hands.

"There's an empty guest room across the hall from my bedroom," she told Tinkerbell as she passed, and Tink smiled gratefully at her.

/

Almost two hours later, Henry was curled at the end of the living room couch fast asleep. Next to him, Emma was nursing her second cup of hot chocolate with a drowsy expression, and if she wasn't careful, she'd fall asleep with her face in the mug.

"I believe it's the children's bed time," Regina said amusedly as Emma began leaning forward only to jerk upright and attempt to act like she hadn't almost fallen asleep sitting up.

"I'm awake," Emma slurred, and Tink snickered into her own hot chocolate.

Regina stood up and crossed to take the mug from Emma before she spilled it all over the couch and herself and likely their son depending on which direction she tilted. Initially, Emma protested, but after Regina gave her a pointed look, she loosened her grip and allowed Regina to take the mug from her.

When she returned from the kitchen, Emma had Henry cradled in her arms and was heading for the staircase. Regina considered following them, but as she watched Emma disappear into Henry's room, she motioned at Tink to follow her instead.

Tinkerbell was extremely grateful to Regina for letting her stay, and by the time Regina left her to sleep and kissed her sleeping son on the forehead, Emma had already pulled on her jacket – that horrible red leather one – and was lingering by the front door, looking more awake than she had but still rather drowsy.

"You're going to wind up in a ditch," Regina said as Emma listed sideways briefly before she righted herself. "How many hours of sleep have you gotten in the last week?"

"Not enough," Emma mumbled in reply, and Regina sighed and wondered how this woman had managed to survive to adulthood. "Hey, Regina, what's the deal with the tattoo?"

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, but when Regina cut her eyes at Emma, her curious expression made her think that Emma had been sitting on this since she'd overheard them talking while she was supposed to be asleep.

So Regina sighed and set her hands on her hips, wondering how best to explain how something that had happened before Emma was even a thought had apparently affected her life. Even before she'd been born, she'd still been connected to Regina.

Finally, she just sighed again and turned to head back to the living room, "Come with me. I'm going to need some alcohol to tell this story."

/

Telling the story was as difficult as Regina had expected, and by the time she was done, Emma was staring off into space with a frown on her face.

"So," Emma finally said after several minutes of complete silence between them, "you're not actually  _sure_  I'm your soul mate."

Regina cleared her throat and looked away, even though Emma made no motion to look up from the floor. "Magic can be very uncertain," she replied slowly, weighing every one of her words before she spoke. "It is possible that I was mistaken in drawing this conclusion."

"But you don't think you are," Emma added, and Regina shook her head stiffly.

"I never met the man; I have no idea who he is. He might not even be in Storybrooke. And anyway, I stopped trusting in magic long ago; it always lies."

Emma sighed and reached up to rub a hand over her face. "I totally get that. I've seen the Disney versions, and things don't always go as planned in those, either."

At the mention of the ridiculous children's versions of their lives, Regina rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to scoff. She'd seem some of those versions over the years, and they were so completely off she'd barely been able to stomach them.

"So what do we do?"

Regina's eyes finally snapped to Emma to see her watching her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you and Tink both seem to think we're soul mates, so what are we going to do?"

"Who says we have to do anything?" Regina snapped, getting to her feet and quickly striding to the door to the kitchen without a backward glance. She heard Emma sigh and start to follow her, but she ignored her and began rinsing out her wine glass.

Emma's footsteps stopped, and Regina could feel her standing behind her and tensed preemptively, waiting for Emma's inevitable questions. They didn't come though, and after a minute, she heard Emma slowly step closer.

"I told you the truth back in Neverland, Regina," she said quietly. "If this is about you worrying you're going to ruin my life again, you're not. I mean, my parents and Henry expect me to still be in love with Neal and become a happy family together, and Hook's not exactly being subtle."

"So I'm your last choice?" Regina spat bitterly, and Emma sighed.

"That's not what I said, so just let me finish," Emma said firmly. "Relationships aren't really my thing; hell, I chased people across the country for ten years because I didn't feel comfortable staying in one place for too long. And I don't love Neal anymore, no matter what everybody else seems to assume. He's Henry's father, that's all."

Regina felt a hesitant hand on her shoulder, and she grudgingly turned to face Emma, who was watching her closely. "So what point are you trying to make?" she eventually asked after Emma's arm had fallen back to her side.

"That you can't ruin something that's already broken, and if you really think I'm your soul mate then," she shrugged awkwardly, "okay."

"Okay?" Regina echoed blankly, her brain struggling to comprehend Emma's words. It was like it had been cemented in the last few minutes, and her thoughts were being blocked from forming.

"Okay as in you're a hell of a lot better choice than anyone else that's interested in me."

Emma gave her a crooked smile and it was a sign of how far they'd come that she just rolled her eyes when Regina made an incredible recovery and asked loftily, "Well, who ever said I was  _interested_  in you, dear?"

The corners of Emma's lips quirked up at the final word. "I've missed that," she said, and then Regina felt all the previous tension seep out of her body as Emma leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

/

The look on confusion on Henry's face was completely understandable when he wandered into the kitchen in the morning. "Why is Emma on the couch?" he asked as he hopped up on a stool at the island, and Regina found it remarkable that he only sounded half as confused as he looked.

"She was asleep on her feet last night, and the last thing we needed was a trip to the emergency room because she fell asleep at the wheel," Regina replied easily as she slid a plate of eggs across the counter to Henry, who began to eagerly devour them.

"Oh," he said between mouthfuls like it wasn't a big deal. "I thought it was because she kissed you."

Regina almost dropped a full cup of chocolate milk in her surprise; Henry didn't look up from his breakfast but seemed to realize he'd said something wrong and began stuffing large amounts of egg into his mouth so he had an excuse to not talk.

"Where did that come from?" Regina asked evenly, setting Henry's drink in front of him and leaning against the counter.

He didn't look up, but he swallowed his mouthful of egg and mumbled, "I got thirsty."

Of course. She couldn't have a serious conversation with anyone these days without someone overhearing.

She stifled her irritation, however, and watched her son eat as she debated on what to tell him. As it was, she couldn't just outright lie to him, but she didn't exactly know what her relationship was with Emma right now and she didn't want to tell him the wrong thing and then have to fix things later.

"We came to an understanding," she finally decided on, and Henry gave her a look like she'd just said the sky wasn't blue.

"By kissing?"

"By talking," she corrected, then added at Henry's raised eyebrow – no surprise where he'd gotten  _that_  from, "And a kiss."

He looked triumphant at being proven right and returned to his eating with renewed vigor, and she watched him in amusement for a minute before she moved to pour herself a cup of coffee.

"So you're okay with this?" she asked cautiously, and he frowned at her with genuine confusion.

"Should I not be?" He continued before Regina could say anything, picking at the remainder of his breakfast as he spoke. "I mean, I know you two haven't always gotten along in the past, but you seem to now, so." He shrugged and shoved the last of his egg into his mouth.

She watched as he hopped down from his stool and slipped past her to where more eggs were sitting next to the stove, smiling. He'd taken the news far better than she had expected; she could only hope everyone else would take it just as well, though the odds were definitely against them.

Just as Henry had sat back down, Emma wandered in looking rather lost, lured in, Regina expected, by the smell of food. Sure enough, she shuffled over to where the food was and began piling a plate high with it without a word.

Henry, however, didn't seem to be bothered by her silence in the slightest. "Morning, Emma!" he chirped with a grin, and Emma mumbled something under her breath and sank onto the nearest stool and began shoveling food into her mouth.

While they'd been on their rescue mission, Regina had learned first-hand that Emma Swan was most definitely not a morning person. If it was possible, the two of them were even more volatile when Emma hadn't been awake long; it was amazing they hadn't blown up the Jolly Roger the first morning after leaving Storybrooke.

"So I saw you and Mom kissing last night," Henry said without preamble, and Emma choked on her food and scrambled for a drink, which Regina helpfully handed to her. If she hadn't been so concerned about what Emma's reaction would be, Regina might have been amused.

"There's this thing called tact, kid," Emma manages after she's drained the entire cup of coffee. "I'm sure your mom taught you at some point."

Henry shrugged, and Regina made a mental note to inform Emma that she  _had_  taught her son tact, but he seemed to be inclined to not use it, a trait he had no doubt picked up from his birth mother.

Emma glanced helplessly at Regina, who just stared back and sipped at her own coffee, eager to see how Emma would respond to this. She'd already been through the same thing this morning; now it was Emma's turn to be put on the spot.

With the realization that she was on her own, Emma turned back to Henry, who was looking at her expectantly as well. She cleared her throat, opened her mouth, shut it, was still for a moment, and then opened her mouth again, but all that came out was a strangled sound like an animal being stepped on.

"I think I broke her," Henry said earnestly, and Regina had to quash the urge to smirk when he turned to her, looking genuinely concerned.

"She's fine," Regina simply said, and Emma turned a betrayed look on her to which she returned a faux-sweet smile.

"Traitor," Emma mumbled darkly into her plate, and Henry giggled in what Regina suspected was mostly relief that she was still okay. "What am I supposed to say to that?" she muttered, reaching up and rubbing at her forehead.

She looked so torn that Regina decided to have mercy on her, but before she could, Tinkerbell entered the room and distracted Henry from pestering his birth mother. Henry had been almost smitten with her since first meeting her and realizing who she was, and Emma took advantage of his distraction to turn a glare on Regina.

"Relax," Regina said, returning Emma's glare with a smirk. "I've already spoken with him about it. He's just teasing you."

"Jerk," Emma mumbled, sounding remarkably like a petulant child, which was an apt comparison, Regina thought as she watched Emma push out her lip and pout at her like Henry had when he was younger – and did even now when he thought he could convince her.

With Henry, pouting sometimes worked for what he wanted it to, but it didn't quite have the same effect with Emma. She scowled when Regina simply gave her a wicked smirk in reply and sipped at her coffee, and she turned back to her breakfast and stabbed at it moodily.

/

"I think Henry had a nightmare last night," Tinkerbell said when Emma and Henry had left to visit Snow and Charming. Regina froze and turned to Tinkerbell, who grimaced and traced a finger around the rim of her cup as she spoke. "I thought I heard him moving around in his room very early this morning, and when I got up to check, there was a light on in his room."

"And you think he had a nightmare, and that was why he was awake?"

Tink nodded. "I wouldn't doubt it. From what we've managed to get out of him, he's been through enough to cause them. I can't imagine what Pan put him through." She shuddered, and Regina felt sympathetic at the sight of the haunted look in Tinkerbell's eyes.

She knew all too well the pain of not being able to sleep without being haunted by the past. Her own nightmares had only gotten worse after the curse had broken, as if it had stifled the effects of her past while it was active. She'd had more than a few sleepless nights immediately after the curse breaking.

"I'll talk to him about it," she said quietly, and Tinkerbell set a hand on top of hers.

/

When the two of them got home and after informing Emma of the situation, Regina cautiously approached her son, who shifted under her gaze and skirted the subject for a few minutes before finally giving in and telling her that despite him sleeping without problem on the Jolly Roger, he had been woken by a nightmare he had barely remembered after waking.

Her heart had broken at how small he'd sounded, and she'd hugged him so hard she was surprised he hadn't complained at being squeezed too tightly. He'd just let her and had curled against her and buried his face in her neck.

Emma had been upset to hear the news but said she had expected it. With everything Henry had been through, she would have been surprised if he  _hadn't_  had nightmares.

"So what do we do?" Emma asked tiredly, her arm wrapped around Regina's waist and Regina's head tipped onto her shoulder.

Regina sighed and tilted her head to press a kiss to Emma's shoulder. "What we should have done all along," she finally replied quietly. "We be there for him and comfort him when he needs it."

"And what about us?" Emma added after a pause, and Regina could feel her tense slightly where she was leaned against her.

For a long minute, Regina was silent, turning her thoughts over in her mind and trying to find the best plan of action. After a moment, she just sighed again and reached over to take Emma's hand and slide her fingers between Emma's.

"One day at a time," she finally whispered, and Emma squeezed her hand in reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I'm horrible about finishing things, I'm going to leave this story here at a place where we're all (hopefully) happy.
> 
> I sincerely hope you all enjoyed, and thank you for reading!


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